The word is out
I finally took the chance to tell my aunt about my plans for this year (changing jobs - going to boston - ...). You may know that I am in the lucky situation of living in her appartment here in Linz. She likes it that somebody actually lives in it and takes care of things that she doesnt feel comfortable with (electrical or gas related things for instance). Anyway - today I finally told her that I will be going back to Boston - starting in August. To my surprise she was totally ok with my decision - I always feared that she would kind of be afraid that nobody will take care of things.
What else is going on? Yesterday afternoon we helped Martin (aka Resl) in their new appartment that they just bought - had to clean the walls. Today I asked Didi to ride the bike with me - up to the GIS.
Tomorrow is going to be my first day in my new job - looking forward to it.
And - last but not least: Countdown to SAMS: 31 days!
Here are some pictures of the past two days
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| Martin fixing some holes in the wall | Me getting rid of a special wall glue |
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| Lissy working on the wall - Sandro working on his beer | Sonja and Martin after an exhausting afternoon |
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| Didi on the way up to the GIS: still lots of snow up there | We rewarded us with a glass of Most |
More Farewell Impressions
Its been a tough night - strange dreams haunted my sleep - and my stomach still had to work on those beers from thursday night.
Before I go into town now - checking out the Live-Radio Birthday Party - I want to share additional pictures from thursday night with you.
As you can see - I got a great present from my team - fits pretty well :-)
Cheers
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| My presents: The Shirt and a Certificate to be a Borland Certified SilkTester :-) | Udo in one of his favorite positions |
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| MAHLZEIT!! | My Team in Walker |
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| My Team in the Office | Christina - thanks for that rose |
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| The later the night to more drunk we got | Zynk, Udo and Ernst |
Time to say Good Bye
Saying Good Bye can really be hard - especially when you say good bye to a group of people that you spent the last 7 years with. Its been a great time working with the folks of Borland/Segue. Especially the past 1.5 years with "my team" were extremely good.
I had to shed more than one tear in the past 2 days and I probably will shed some more everytime I will think back to the great time that we had - THANKS AGAIN Linz-Team!!
But I am looking forward to the new challenges that are waiting for me now - new company - new job - and soon a new country that I will be living in.
Now lets stop talking emotions :-). Here is a first set of pictures of yesterdays farewell party in Walker. I am a bit embarrased that I was not the last one to leave this party - on the other side I think its great that so many enjoyed the evening so much to stay out till 5 AM.
Here we go - more pictures will follow.
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| Stefan (aka Unti) and Chris | Mr. and Ms. Lexx :-) |
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| Michael (aka Gecki) and I | Stefan (aka Stoni), Dominik and Stoni's girlfriend |
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| Christian and I | Just me :-) |
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| Joachim and I | Mr. Prinzregent and I |
Austria vs. Netherlands
The next game of the a series of games for our national soccer team is going to kick-off in about 30 minutes. If you may remember - we played well in our last game against Germany - but we lost 3:0. This time its the Netherlands - another very strong team. I just hope that our team plays encouraged till the end.
What else is going on? Well - only 2 days left to go. Tomorrow night I will go out with some of my colleagues to celebrate farewell. Its been 7 years - but now its time to say good-bye. We will be going out to Walker - probably have one/two/many beers - talk about the past - and about the future.
Thats all for today. I have to get going. I have a visitor on the doorstep - waiting for some Caipirinha's that I will fix. bye bye
Happy Easter
The Easter Weekend is almost over. At some point I stopped counting the number of eggs that I had cracked during "eierpecken" and the number that I've actually eaten.
On saturday night I had our first "Osterjause" with my friends in Gallneukirchen (Doris, Robert, Klemens, Gabi, Mario, Petra, Klaus). It all continued with breakfast on sunday morning with my sister - followed by lunch and afternoon at my parents.
Raffael got a real cool present that not only he enjoed - see the picture below. I ended the day with a movie at the cinema: Michael Clayton
Now its time to gain some more strength for tonight - salsa in the remembar. bye bye
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| My nieces doing some Eierpecken during Breakfast | Playing cards at the breakfast table |
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| Raffaels cool present: a QUAD | ALL the grown ups had fun with that thing |
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| Visiting horses on our afternoon walk | Eierpecken with my sister in law |
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| Maximilian | and Lisa |
Ready for the weekend!
Weekend is finally here - time to relax and gain back strength. Not only have I been struggling with my rip - but also with the first signs of getting ill (headache, sore throat, ...).
The plan for the weekend is pretty straight forward: EASTER!!. I will be meeting friends and family - probably playing "Eierpecken" multiple times - ending up with too many eaten eggs over the weekend.
I am sure I will take one or two pictures over the next days. Cheers and Happy Easter!
The road to SAMOS!
Its kind of odd when I look out of the window right now - it is snowing!
Well - that alone is not odd - but its odd when I think about the meeting that I just had with Martin (aka Resl), Juergen and Sandro. We had a meeting about our upcoming sailing trip in greece. The trip will start in about 6 weeks. Hard to imagine a nice sunny sailing trip when its snowing outside.
Anyway. Its been a very good day. The only sad thing is that my rip doesnt even allow me to do the simplest sports anymore. I went to the gym for some biking. I had to give up after 20 minutes because that damn rip hurt so much. Probably I should just stay at home and wait till it gets better. Unfortunately I am too eager to do sports or salsa dancing.
Thats all - 6 days to go - bye
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| Our Ecker Yachting Travel Labels | Some Chinese Schnaps |
Post St. Patricks Celebrations
I was one day late - but - I got my Guinness :-)
I went out tonight with Gary - an old/new colleague of mine. Went to the small Irish Pub on the Hauptplatz. Had a couple of Pints and some food. He gave me a brief lesson in Irish History - thanks for that!
Its been an interesting day today - it was a change in pace - and I hope it will continue like that. Its 9pm right now - considering that I went out till 2AM last night - with only 4 hours of sleep after a long night of salsa - I am proud to be still awake :-). Which brings me to a very pressing topic - sports. Sports - including Salsa - is not that easy as it used to be. My rip is stopping me from certain activities - like running, biking, ...
The rip is getting better every day - but I would be happier if it would progress faster.
Thats all - 7 days to go - bye
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| Gary and I in the Irish Pub | Drinking Irish Beer |
Happy St. Patricks Day
I've realized today that St. Patricks Day is known - but not really celebrated here in Austria. For me - St. Patricks Day is of course very special. I had the chance to celebrate my first St. Patricks Day in Boston - just a couple of weeks after I moved there in 2005. Looking forward to 2009 - I will be back in Boston - hopefully with some Pints of Guinness and many green leprechauns :-)
Thats it - time for bed. Cheers
Birthday weekend in Gastein
Its been a very relaxing weekend in Dorfgastein. We celebrated Sandro's 29th birthday. It was pouring rain when we went to Dorfgastein on friday and it was pouring rain on our way back today (Sunday) - but its been a beautiful day on saturday. We spent most of the day on the balcony - relaxing in the sun - with one or two beers from Juergens Beertender.
Basically there is no more to say about the past 3 days - its just been a good time with good friends. Below are some pictures from the past 3 days.
Just a quick update on my rip-status: its getting better but its not at all as good as I would have hoped.
Thats all. Greetings
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| Playing "Phase 10" | Because it was Sandro's birthday we got a bowl of Malibu-Orange at the end of our friday night dinner |
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| Resl playing with his new camera | The Ottakringer king |
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| And his queen :-) | Sign on the toilet: "Come closer my friend - he is shorter than you think" |
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| Bad pouring job | Early Saturday morning |
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| Juergen booting Sandro's laptop with his Knoppix CD | Resl and Sonja had their own mobile hotel room |
Nothing exciting
Nothing exciting going on right now. My rip is getting better - there is too much work to do - and - the countdown goes on.
Just watching the news. Its the 70th anniversary of the so called "Anschluss" - a historical time to remember.
Whats next? Sandro's birthday - which is actually today - will be celebrated this weekend in Gastein - looking forward to that - lots of good food and drinks are waiting for us :-)
Cheers
Stuck in 2nd gear
Tonights salsa felt a bit like driving on the Autobahn with 2nd gear. My cracked rip caused some problems - therefore I had to take it slower today as usual. But - you know - driving longer with second gear still brings you to your final destination. Therefore I stayed till 1:30 AM :-)
The only thing I hope now is that tomorrow morning I wont regret being out tonight - dancing with my cracked rip - and - not wearing my rip-bandage :-)
Thats it - time for bed - "good night and good luck" :-)
A sunny afternoon in the hospital :-(
Just a quick addition to my first entry. It turned out that the problem with my rib was more serious than I originally thought. After a heavy cough my rib gave another loud crack followed by pain. That made me go to the hospital to check whats going on within my body. Good news: nothing serious. Bad News: I am supposed to wear a special rib-bandage and - I am not really sure how much sport (including salsa) is good for me right now :-(
But - obversing the scene in the hospital this afternoon showed me that there are people with more severe problems than not being able to do sports over the next weeks. Therefore - lets be glad that we actually dont have any "real" problems.
Cheers
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| A beautiful afternoon sun - my laundry drying on the balcony | My latest fashion accessory |
My Body hurts!!
Its been a very sport intensive weekend so far. Soccer on friday night - a full day of skiing on saturday - and a 14k run on sunday morning. Unfortunately I had a crash on saturday where I fell on my ski pole - rammed it into my chest - I may have cracked one of my ribs. But of course - I would not go to the doctor :-). It was not a big problem during todays run - so I hope I will be fine.
I finished the 14k run in 1:04:05. That time is really fine with me - gives me hope for the half-marathon in April.
Well - thats it. Here are some pictures from this weekend. Cheers
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| Gregor, Gerald and Andreas on the ski-lift | Lampy, Zynk, Gerald and Gregor |
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| Ernst, Andreas and I | Roland and Lampy |
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| Hubbo | We had 3 different options: We (hubbo and I) decided to run 14k |
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| Hubbo and I before the run | And after |
Happy Birthday to Stephan and Herbert
Its the birthday of Stephan and Herbert (my brother) - congratulations to both of you!!
Yesterday was the first thursday in the month - and - as every first thursday of the month - its Apfiff Time in Freistadt. Went there with Roman and Lampy. Its been the first time in quite a while that I was not the driver. The final achievement: 9 Pfiff, 1 Halbe, 3 Schnaps - and a headache in the morning :-)
Just came back from soccer - again - as always on fridays - its soccer time. Its been a good match - but - in the end we had 3 people with injuries :-(. Now its time for some rest - maybe a quick bite at night - maybe going out a bit - but not too long tonight. The company skiing day - that was canceled last week because of the storm - is going to take place tomorrow. We start at 6:30 AM - that means I better get to bed early tonight.
Thats the news: skiing tomorrow - and - yeah - before I forget - the first major running event on sunday. Its a half-marathon with the option to either run 7, 14 or 21km - not sure which distance I am really about to run - probably only the 14km. Cheers
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| Back on wednesday: Didi and I before watching soccer | People pouring their own beer from the kegs |
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| Lampy's turn to get our glasses refilled | Roman's turn :-) |
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| I like that clock: watch the fingers | Did I mention the schnaps? :-) |
Back to the roots!
Its been an interesting experience - getting back to the place where I spent my time from 1994 to 1998. Whats that place? Its the school that I attended - HTL Leonding. The school had their annual Career Day where companys could present themselves - hoping to attract some "kids" for their future career. Met many of my old teachers. My observation: most of them havent really changed.
I have to keep this entry short - I am about to get my bike and get to Didi's place. Tonight is Champions League night - we are going to watch Real Madrid vs. AS Roma.
Greetings
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| I thought that there should be no entry without a beer :-) | Our last "gig": Didi and I on the career day |
Brunching at Reiter's
Bakery Reiter offers a great breakfast buffet from 5:30 to 10:30 every day. Its just 6,7 for a buffet that offers everything you need for breakfast. The plan for today was to visit my parents. I postponed to visit from yesterday to today due to the storm. Right now it seems the storm is picking up again - so maybe I have to skip the visit again - we will see.
Yesterday night was a bit unusual for me. Its been a saturday night - and - I did not go out! I decided to stay at home - watch Wetten Dass ...? and go to bed early. It was a smart decision - allowing me to get up early this morning.
What else is new? As I've finished Dan Brown's novel I went out for book shopping. I got 4 new english novels: A Clockwork Orange, Junky, The Catcher in the Rye and Whiteout. Why so many books? Well - I went out to only buy one book - Whiteout. But then I picked up this 3 in 1 books special - thats how I ended up with 4.
And now - before I end this entry - a quick outlook to this weeks activities: Salsa on Monday, Career Fair on wednesday (Didi and I represent Borland at a local colleague), Abpfiff on thursday, probably a Ball on friday, first running event on sunday.
Well - thats it. Cheers
----- the guinness update -----
I went to the gas station today in the evening and I found a can of guinness in their selection. Bought one - took a pictures - poured it into a glass - another pictures - drank it - was happy :-). Here are the pictures:
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| Guinness in the Can | Guinness in the Glas |
Blown Away
The name "Emma" doesnt sound terrifying - but - the storm "Emma" that is going to swep through parts of Europe (including Austria) today is the reason why we had to cancel our company skiing day. With winds up to 150km/h and lots of rain it wont be a fun day on the ski slopes. So my last chance of skiing this winter will be the weekend of march 15th where we are going to celebrate sandro's birthday - lets hope the best.
Now to something more positive: 'be tapas bar - thats the place where we went yesterday night. Its been an interesting "tapas" experience. We had good food and good drinks. Its definitely worth checking out the place - but - be prepared - service might be a bit slow (probably they just adapted the spanish lifestyle - take it eaaassyyy).
Now its saturday morning - just finished Angels & Demons (German title: Illuminati). Its been a great book - worth reading. But I have to agree with Udo - there are some scenes at the very end that are a bit "too" unrealistic - but still good.
Well - thats it: First day of march - 4 weeks to go before I start into new challenges - 5 months to go before I will be back in Boston.
Bye